Packing up and picking up everything you own to move to a new house is not supposed to be a stress-free act. For some, it’s a relief and they’re excited for the change of scenery. For others, they’d rather not move but have to for work or other matters. Jeff and I have done much moving in our days and had some particularly stressful moves, but we’ve coped and the last move we did was a breeze after compiling our strategies for dealing with the stress. We want to share our experience for other young families, so they too can benefit from what we’ve learned.
The first thing you should do is to remember that this experience of moving is supposed to be stressful. After all, you might have a million things in your mind, all of them tasks that you need to attend to. Like will the carpet cleaners show up on time? Why aren’t the pressure washers here yet? Will I be able to find a family doctor where I’m moving? When should I switch over the car insurance? There’s already a scratch on the new walls! These are examples of worries you might have, so it makes sense not to be at ease with the whole process. By remembering this you can accept your emotions, and it’ll be easier to simmer down if a difficulty that arises threatens to push your sanity over the edge.
The second thing you and your family can do is work hard to make the process of moving fun. Jeff and I often had friends help us so we could chat and laugh while moving furniture and unpacking. We also played music in the yard and had a decent amount of breaks with snacks. And when we new all the driving was done for the day we’d make unpacking even more fun by having a few drinks and putting a sports game on in the background. These things may all be distractions, but they help to keep you in a good mood. And while you’re working in a good mood you can see the big event looming on the horizon, the moment when you can fall back in your couch and say, “Ah, sweetie, we’re finally done!”
Another final tip I’ll add here is for when there’s that one big thing you just can’t stop worrying about. For me, I was constantly worried that our previous landlord would make us pay for new carpets and drywall after moving, because the damages of living there for years might be more than what they call “living damage”. It was hard not to worry about this, but I just had to remind myself this was out of my control. If a big bill came up, Jeff and I would figure it out. Until then, worrying was useless, and was only causing me more stress than what was needed. It can be hard to redirect your thoughts away from your main worry, but it’s a muscle you must train and after you train it you’ll be prepared for other bothersome troubles in the future.
After reading this I hope your move will be a little less stressful, or a lot less stressful. And it will be over soon so keep it up!